


Truce

by Kihyunie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, M/M, Sort Of, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-11-13 20:24:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18038372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kihyunie/pseuds/Kihyunie
Summary: Jaemin loves watching cities burn. How the world is swallowed by flames, nature taking back everything it never wanted in the first place. Come sunrise, the morning light will filter through pillars of dust and smoke, and Jaemin will feel calm.He just wishes Jeno was here to see it, too.





	Truce

**Author's Note:**

> today i woke up and jaemin had dark hair so i have to post this before i die completely 
> 
> titled after the twenty one pilot song ~ (stay alive, stay alive for me//take pride in what is sure to die *cries*)
> 
> very mild mentions of violence/blood/death/a back injury
> 
> Enjoy!!

Jaemin loves watching cities burn.

The darkness is alive with fire tonight. Clouds of ash and sparks rise into the night sky, hungry flames licking away at the black canopy, exposing torn buildings and busted windows. Instead of the tidy, orderly city lights, the flames are chaotic, all-consuming, anarchic. Their own riot next to the people who’ve started them – who are long gone, hidden away in the safety of the night. The structures of the houses crumble until they are ragged empty skeletons of the high-rises they used to be. The next storm will take them down completely. So much money and time, wasted.

Jaemin loves to watch it. How the world is swallowed by flames and how nature takes back everything it never wanted in the first place. Come sunrise, the morning light will filter through pillars of dust and smoke, and Jaemin will feel calm.

He wishes Jeno was here.

He hasn’t seen the other boy in weeks despite keeping an eye out for him. He hasn’t seen him within the city, either, back when he was still slinking through the streets earlier this day like a soft-footed thief, looking for things to scavenge before the peaking conflict between the people would destroy it all.

Jaemin is good at it: looking for useful, necessary, sellable things.

But he hasn’t found Jeno.

It’s a good sign, he tells himself. If he saw him today it could have meant that he’d be dead by now. Jaemin likes to think Jeno is sitting on another mountain, just like he is, watching the blaze lick and devour the once beautiful city centre. Distant, but safe.

It’s a precious, naïve thought these days but Jaemin entertains it anyway. Just for tonight. He breathes in deeply, smells dried wood and grass and slightly damp earth, and then, distantly, the smoke that the wind carries over. From his vantage point on the hill he can see the breeze pulling at the mist and pushing the flames this way and that.

He’s safe here for now. He wishes he could let Jeno know somehow and then wonders how many people have died tonight. The city isn’t – _wasn’t_ very big and the smarter part of its inhabitants had anticipated an attack, so the impact can’t have been that huge, but something tells him Jeno was there. Jeno is _always_ there when shit goes down. It’s how they met, after all. In the middle of an ambush in a city not very different from this one.

Jeno had been carrying a torch back then. He’d been the one to set fire to that town. When Jaemin had smiled at him, he’d taken off his black face mask and returned the expression, and that had been the beginning of it all.

Fate isn’t as cruel as to put them on opposing sides of the war and yet cruel enough to put them in different positions.

Not that Jaemin really belongs to anything, or anyone. He’s always preferred trusting himself only, based on his knowledge of people and their tendency to recalibrate their loyalty. Those who adapt are the ones that survive after all. He’s done the same in the past – put his faith in himself only.

Until Jeno came along, anyway.

Because Jeno is something different.

He must be somewhere in the radius of the burning city and Jaemin briefly thinks about searching for him.

But it’s too risky right now. Bandits must be waiting in the shadows for the city to cool down and then exploit what is left of its shambles. Tomorrow, Jaemin will be one of them. A hunter, a thief, a scavenger. Just a tradesman making a living off of what other people have left behind.

Maybe he’ll find Jeno there.

Jaemin closes his eyes and lets himself remember the last time they’ve seen each other, weeks ago, in that same city which is now nothing but a desolate wasteland, tortured by the fire.

 

☽☽☽

 

‘Fancy seeing you here,’ Jaemin drawls, casually leaning against the brick wall. His heart, the traitor, is already beating in his throat before the black haired boy in front of him even swivels around.

‘Oh,’ said boy exclaims. He’s wearing black again. Leather jacket (one of his prized possessions, Jaemin knows), shirt, ripped jeans, and combat boots. ‘Hey, Nana.’

Jaemin feels warmth spread through his chest at the nickname and steps forward to embrace Jeno. It’s been a while – too long, always too long – and Jaemin aches with how much he’s missed him.

Jeno returns the hug just as fiercely, pressing his face into Jaemin’s shoulder for a second before he pulls back. His hands slide down to Jaemin’s wrists and don’t let go. ‘You look good.’

‘So do you.’ Jaemin smiles. ‘What are you up to?’

Jeno grins back, eyes curving into half-moons. Jaemin always thought the world doesn’t deserve someone with a smile like that. The war doesn’t deserve someone as pure as Jeno.

But life is what it is.

‘I could ask you the same question,’ Jeno gives back and leans in a little bit. ‘Were you looking for something, thief?’

‘Maybe,’ Jaemin replies quietly. ‘Perhaps you could help me…’

Jeno finally intertwines their fingers, circling his thumb over Jaemin’s knuckles, and Jaemin feels calmer. ‘Hm, depends on what it is?’

‘Something very beautiful and precious and rare,’ Jaemin says. ‘I heard it likes to hide for indefinite time. Its eyes sparkle and it likes cats despite being allergic to them and its kisses taste of a better future –‘

Jeno laughs and turns his face away, suddenly shy. ‘Shut up, you charmer.’

When Jeno returns his gaze to him Jaemin surges forward to kiss him. Jeno gives in easily, pliant and willing, meeting Jaemin’s lips and opening up immediately.

Jaemin allows himself a minute of having this moment. Stealing kisses in the shaded alley between two abandoned houses, Jeno’s firm chest pressed against his, the warmth of his body and the softness of his mouth making his head spin in a way nothing else ever does.

He pulls away a little, breathing hard. ‘I missed you.’

‘I missed you, too.’ Jeno rests his forehead against Jaemin’s and opens his eyes. Jaemin could count his eyelashes like this, every single one a potential wish – useless in a world like this, but romantic anyway.

‘Did I interrupt anything important?’ Jaemin asks.

‘Nah. I was just snooping around.’

‘How much longer are you here for?’

At this Jeno pulls away and looks up at the sky, most likely accessing the position of the sun. ‘A few more hours.’

‘Care for some company?’

Jaemin hates himself for the hope and neediness he can hear in his own voice but Jeno just smiles softly and squeezes Jaemin’s hand. He reminds himself that he doesn’t have to hide his feelings around him. Jeno always understands.

‘I could use someone who’s good at stealth.’

Jaemin grins and his chest feels light with relief. ‘Lead the way then, sir.’

That’s how they end up scoping out the city. Jaemin finds some decent materials to sell and Jeno seems happy with the atmosphere here. _Not long until it all blows up_ , he says cheerfully. Jaemin thinks Jeno likes watching things burn even more than he does. It scares him sometimes.

In the end, they’re back in an alley between two houses, kissing each other against the dusty walls while the sun sets. Jaemin likes to treat each day he spends with Jeno as if it’s the last one, because it might be. He doesn’t know how many more tomorrows he’ll get. He doesn’t know if he will even find Jeno again next time, or find him dead instead.

The uncertainty is killing him.

‘When will I see you again?’ he asks when Jeno finally pulls away. Jaemin is making him late again, they both know it, both don’t care.

‘I don’t know.’ Jeno shrugs. ‘But I’m not worried. You always find me.’

Jaemin sighs and pulls his hands away from Jeno’s face. ‘What if I don’t?’

‘You will. Trust me.’

But trust is hard to come by these days. Jeno must know that and yet everything inside Jaemin wants to believe him. That it’s easy if he wants it to be.

‘Don’t get in trouble or I’ll get mad,’ he warns.

‘Some goes to you.’

‘Take care, Jeno.’

Jeno presses a kiss to Jaemin’s forehead before stepping back. ‘Take care, Nana.’

Next time, Jaemin thinks as he watches Jeno walk away, just a black silhouette against the fierce backlight of a brilliant sun, next time he’ll tell him he loves him.

 

☽☽☽

 

The fires are dying.

Dawn is coming up, a pale strip of blue on the horizon to the east, and the city is a black crumbled mass dotted with orange streaks of flames. Another charred corpse in the landscape. People made homeless because they stood on the wrong side of things.

Life is cruel that way. Jaemin has made a point to be ambiguous about his viewpoints, and he’s not important enough to be hunted, and he likes it that way. Survival on the streets has made him mostly numb to the sacrifices that war and destruction bring, has instead sharpened his skills to exploit them, but Jeno always tells him he has a soft heart. Maybe he’s right. Maybe that’s why he lets himself feel so nostalgic while watching the flames.

But a new day is coming up and the fatigue in Jaemin’s bones is getting harder to bear each second. He retreats into his tent to sleep and dreams of finding Jeno right beside him upon waking up.

 

☽☽☽

 

There is a small village at the outskirts of a mostly abandoned city. It always looks strange to Jaemin to see skyscrapers empty, waning, windows like empty eyes. On days like this, he lets himself miss city lights.

He isn’t here to yearn for the past, though. He’s here for business. A village means people with needs and Jaemin makes a point of taking things all people require. For the bigger places, he brings valuable stuff like technical devices, small car parts, sometimes weapons.

He isn’t the only seller with the same idea but he knows very few people are as good as he is. His reputation precedes him; when people hear about the Fox coming to town smaller merchants pack their bags, knowing there is no more success to be made.

Jaemin has travelled far to get here. Two days, to be specific, and he hopes his efforts are going to pay off. He hasn’t been to this place before, only knows that it belongs to a group of civilians who are just trying to escape the conflicts between the military and the resistance, and survive in the meagre conditions the world is offering.

But some of them have money, Jaemin has heard. More of them have beneficial information. And, most importantly, they have food.

Meat is very rare these days and Jaemin is hungry. Always hungry. Maybe, if he’s lucky, he can get some jerky to keep until he finds Jeno again. It would be a nice surprise.

So he sets up his stand a little ways from the makeshift housing the villagers reside in, knowing people will come to him sooner or later. He lays out the less valuable things – knives (there are always too many of those), boxes, cartridges. He leaves the truly necessary things in his bags – matchboxes, gasoline, sewing kits, medical equipment.

People are willing to pay a lot when it comes to saving loved ones, even when they are already too far gone for survival. At the wrong time a cold can be fatal, but Jaemin has learnt not to care about sob stories. If he wants to live, making money off the dead is just another transaction.

 

☽☽☽

 

All things considered, today is a success. Jaemin has acquired several things he needed and wanted through trade – candles, a waterproof jacket, durable food and even a jug of fresh milk. Next to the materialistic things he heard the newest gossip – which town would most likely be the next on the military’s target list, the level of danger this village is in at the moment, the possibility of another standoff between raiders and the military and those who simply want to defend their homes. The war for resources has split humankind into too many fractions to keep track of all of them and Jaemin only knows as much as he has to. He isn’t looking to get involved. He’s looking to survive.

Jaemin counts his blessings and breaks off his stand for the night. He’ll hide out in the scant forest around half an hour from here and maybe come back tomorrow. People have been friendly. No one got angry about his prices and no one tried to steal anything or murder him, as people have on other occasions.

It’s almost dark by the time Jaemin rolls down his sleeves and shoulders his bags, back protesting after a long day of standing. He’s about to get on his way when he spots a figure making its way over to him. In the dim light and the rising dust it’s hard to make out who it may be and Jaemin rests his hand on the dagger on his belt, just in case.

The dust clears and the figure stops in front of him. The man is clad in dark, wide clothing, a face mask hiding the lower part of his face, the cap showing only two black, glistening eyes.

Jaemin is smiling before he can help himself.

‘I heard the Fox came here,’ the stranger says. Jaemin grins harder at the sound of his muffled voice and relief flows through his body all the way to his fingertips. ‘I see you’ve finished business for today but I would like to suggest one more trade, if you’re up for it.’

‘That solely depends on the quality of the offer,’ Jaemin replies.

‘It might be an unconventional offer.’

‘If you know anything about the Fox, you know that those are my favourite.’

The stranger slides his hand into the pocket of his coat before holding out an object. It reflects the last sunrays and Jaemin steps closer to inspect it and access its value.

Jaemin is a man of practicality. There isn’t much money in useless, pretty things anymore, not since necessities have become this sparse, and barely anyone would be stupid enough to spend their tradable possessions on something as pointless as this – a small silver switchblade.

But once upon a time, Jaemin used to live for the aesthetics. A long time ago. There are very few people who know that about him, about the collection of jewellery he had back then, his weakness for shiny and expensive things. 

He’s given it up and traded it against the beauty of a sunrise, morning dew glistening on wild grass like short-lived crystals, and the common knowledge that silver will not save you from starvation.

Jaemin takes the knife and holds it against the glow of the setting sun. Flowers are engraved in its metal. It’s not very heavy and not very stable, either, the blade dull and not any more useful than a butter knife in a serious fight. It’s less of a weapon and more of an accessory, something he could twirl between his skilled fingers to impress those who know nothing about knives.

It’s been a long time since Jaemin has seen something as beautiful as this.

‘And what is it that you want from me?’ Jaemin asks.

The stranger clasps his hands together and shifts his weight, as if both shy and impatient. ‘A kiss.’

Jaemin grins again. ‘Just the one?’

‘Well, how many would you give?’

‘You’re so silly,’ Jaemin says and reaches out to pull away the mask. ‘You know you get kisses for free.’

Jeno is smiling at him. No silver shines the way he does, Jaemin thinks, when he leans in and presses his mouth against Jeno’s.

Jaemin feels Jeno’s callous hand come up to his jaw, gently holding his face when he parts his lips. The kiss is short but desperate – there are too many words to be said and never enough time, never enough space.

Jaemin pulls away and licks his lips. ‘I didn’t think I’d find you this far away from your usual circles.’

‘Maybe I’ve been looking for you.’

‘Huh?’

Jeno looks at the ground and then lifts Jaemin’s hand, the one that is still holding the switchblade. ‘I haven’t seen you around. I got worried.’

‘Aw. I was worried, too.’

‘I found this and thought of you. I’ve been carrying it around for weeks,’ Jeno tells him. ‘Then I heard the Fox was coming to this village, so I convinced my brother to let me sniff out this place for resources.’

‘I’m glad you did.’ Jaemin touches the edge of the knife, the metal cold against his skin. Even with this much pressure it isn’t sharp enough to draw blood. With a little bit of patience he could probably craft this innocent toy into something that easily slices throats. Make it useful after all. ‘It’s beautiful. Thank you, Jeno.’

‘I wanted to give you something of me to have even when we’re apart,’ Jeno says quietly. ‘But I don’t want to be apart from you anymore, Jaemin.’

Jaemin’s breath catches. ‘What…?’

‘Stay with me,’ Jeno whispers. ‘Even just for tonight. I managed to get a room in the village and I know you haven’t slept on anything soft in a while, so your spine is probably killing you, and I just. I want you close. Just for one night. Please.’

Jaemin exhales. His stomach burns with want; the mere thought of a soft mattress is almost too good to pass up, the thought of having Jeno next to him for hours too tempting. ‘Are you sure it’s safe?’

‘I put a lock on the door. If anyone tries to steal anything they have to get past me and you but I don’t think anyone would risk that. The people here aren’t stupid and I’ve made them a good price.’

Jaemin chews on his bottom lip. His experience is telling him to run away but he’s tired of it. Tired of always leaving Jeno behind, of waking up alone, of wondering whether or not Jeno gets to live another day, too. ‘There must be a catch.’

Jeno shakes his head. ‘There is still good in the world, Nana. And you deserve all of it. Come with me.’

 

☽☽☽

 

Like many settlements and housing complexes Jaemin has seen, a huge part of the village is underground. Jeno leads him through narrow, sparsely illuminated tunnels and Jaemin feels slightly claustrophobic. Being trapped beneath the earth’s surface isn’t his favourite pastime and he avoids it when he can, especially with the recent increase in earthquakes. People greet them when they pass but their eyes follow them, some curious, some distrustful, some scared.

There will be rumours, Jaemin knows. About the Fox sleeping in a boy’s bed, someone who’s potentially trouble. Do they know that Jeno belongs to the resistance? For a second he worries how that will affect his business but then Jeno takes his hand and pulls him into a small room.

He doesn’t care. It’s been too long since he’s slept in a bed, and longer since he’s shared one with Jeno.

The room is tiny and dismal, with no windows. There is a threadbare mattress on the floor, a wobbly table to the left that carries a bunch of Jeno’s stuff next to a few lit candles. The diffuse light accentuates the bareness of it all but it is a bed and a roof, and Jaemin won’t question free and safe shelter in the proximity of someone he loves. It’s the only form of luxury he knows.

‘I actually have something for you, too,’ Jaemin says as he puts his things down in one corner and pulls out a few strips of beef jerky. ‘Unless they gave you this, too.’

Jeno’s eyes grow wide. ‘Getting this room was hard enough. They wouldn’t give me catering, too. Holy shit, is that _beef_?’

Jaemin throws the pack over to Jeno who catches it easily and immediately bites into it. ‘Haven’t you eaten today?’

‘Nah. I was too busy chasing a fox.’

Jaemin flicks him on the forehead. ‘I told you to take care of yourself.’

‘Could say the same to you! Don’t think I didn’t notice that your back got worse.’

Jaemin chooses not to answer that. Jeno is right but it’s one thing to have access to medical equipment that fixes immediate injuries and another to find treatment for a fucked up vertebrae. Jaemin knows how this will end for him. The question is just when.

Not for the first time, Jaemin wonders if Jeno would kill him if he asked him to.

They share some of the food Jaemin received today in silence, careful to not diminish the stock too quickly. That’s the first thing they all had to learn – how to eat just so much that it grinds down the teeth of hunger enough to make it bearable.

They both change into lighter clothes after that and lie down on the mattress, one of Jaemin’s blankets thrown over their tangled legs. Jaemin hides his dagger under the edge of the bed, just in case, and pillows his head on Jeno’s arm. ‘Where have you been all this time?’

‘Missions,’ Jeno replies. ‘We’re looking to relocate our base. The last few escalations have been a little too close for comfort.’

‘Hm… are you going to be too far away from me?’

‘Not if you come with me.’

Jeno’s voice is serious and his expression is, too, when Jaemin looks at him. Jaemin can hear the words he isn’t saying, that none of them say despite thinking them all the time: _I don’t want to lose you_.

‘We talked about this before, Jeno.’

‘I know. I was hoping you’d change your answer.’

Thinking back on it, Jaemin wonders if he should.

 

☽☽☽

 

It’s an excruciatingly hot day, the kind that reminds you that the planet really is dying. He and Jeno are sitting with their backs against the wall of an old warehouse, hoping the shadows and stone will protect them from the scorching noon sun, just for a while. Jaemin feels his shirt stick to his skin, along with the grime and dust and blood of the one person who was protecting this building, and all he wants to do is wash it all off.

He doesn’t have any water to waste, though.

‘You should join us,’ Jeno says. He, too, is sweaty and gross, but Jaemin doesn’t mind it. Never has.

‘As what?’

‘A scout maybe? You’d be good at it.’

‘Your brother doesn’t like ambiguity,’ Jaemin reminds him. ‘And I don’t like picking sides.’

‘But he likes me.’

‘Enough to let me live under his protection while I’m still doing my own thing?’

‘I’m sure you’d come to some kind of agreement.’

‘As much as I like you,’ Jaemin says, voice soft with sorrow, ‘I like my freedom more.’

Jeno sighs heavily and intertwines their fingers. ‘It was worth a try. I’m sorry.’

‘Don’t be.’

They kiss each other then, for the first time. It seems like both of them have been waiting for this moment, not just Jaemin. Jeno tastes like salt and earth and all of the shooting stars he’s wished on when he still had hope, and Jeno presses closer, like he’s trying to breathe Jaemin in.

‘Don’t leave me,’ Jeno whispers into the space between them when they part. ‘You don’t have to come with me, but please don’t leave me.’

‘I couldn’t even if I wanted to,’ Jaemin replies. ‘And I don’t.’

 

☽☽☽

 

Months have passed since then and not much has changed.

But some things did.

Every time Jaemin has to watch Jeno walk away from him the gaping chasm in his chest widens. The worry sinks its teeth into his flesh, festers until it’s dripping with pus.

Jaemin is afraid. All the time. Not of dying himself, just of losing Jeno. Jaemin knows him too well, knows that Jeno likes playing with fire, likes seeing things crash to the ground, and Jaemin is scared that one day Jeno will be too close to the flames. That one day Jeno isn’t going to come back to him.

And that fear has grown into a monster.

It’s what happens when you let yourself care about another human being in this day and age. Jaemin should have known better. But by now it’s too late for regrets and honestly, Jaemin isn’t sure he’d change anything about his actions if he had the chance.

So he thinks about it now. Being able to monitor Jeno’s whereabouts, perhaps even accompanying him. They’re a good team, Jaemin knows that from many occasions on which they had to defend themselves.

Maybe Jeno is the one thing Jaemin loves more than his freedom.

‘How much of your current life situation are you willing to trade to be with me?’ Jeno asks and brushes Jaemin’s hair away from his face. ‘How much do you like me?’

Jaemin doesn’t even need to think about that last question. He’s known for a while, and Jeno should know, too.

‘I love you,’ he says.

Jeno’s eyes curve up into crescents, just like the one that hangs on the sky sometimes. Beautiful and precious, so full of light. There’s a faint blush on his cheeks, too. ‘Is that a yes?’

‘Give me your word that your brother won’t shoot me for kissing you,’ Jaemin says. ‘Then I might agree to talk to him.’

Jeno snorts. ‘You’re too important to me for him to hurt you.’

Jaemin smiles and kisses him again. This time none of them tries to pull away to talk – they’ve waited so long to have this. Have sacrificed so much, will continue to do so. Because Jeno is right – there still is good in the world. And it is worth all those things Jaemin had to give up in the past. It’s a privilege to find something as invaluable as love in the times they live in and Jaemin will do his best to keep it safe, to keep _Jeno_ safe, and protect this preciousness until he dies if he has to.

The world could burn down around them now, Jaemin thinks. He wouldn’t move a muscle. When their time to die has come he wishes it would be like this – holding each other securely, Jeno’s warm protective arms around him, forehead to forehead. Jaemin would smile and kiss the tiny mole at the tip of Jeno’s nose before shielding him from the inferno.

He hopes it won’t come to that. He hopes they’ll miraculously get to grow old together and one day fall asleep in each other’s arms and not wake up. Simply drift off, just like that. It’s unlikely, but Jaemin can dream. He used to be an optimist after all, before the war punched that baseless positivity out of his system.

Jeno makes him want to believe again.

Jaemin doesn’t know how long of a future either of them gets or what that future might look like, but right now, with Jeno’s warm hand in his, he feels like there is one that’s finally worth looking forward to again.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I submitted this as my story portfolio and despite the incredibly cliche setting I got my highest grade as of now hjdhfdb thank u nomin 
> 
> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this!! lmk in the comments <3
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/ki_jaemjen)
> 
>  
> 
> [cc](https://curiouscat.me/ki_jaemin)


End file.
